Group Relations Conference

SPIRITS UNITED AND SHAPED BY OUR SOIL/HERALDING OUR FEMININE FUTURE

Australia has a unique place in leadership and the development of sustainable and creative solutions that can have world-wide impact.

This leadership intensive poses a hypothesis that: The future is feminine. But what does that mean for those leading and following in organisations in Australia and beyond? The Laboratory Method of learning by experience, a Group Relations Conference, is like no other, and we invite you to come and deepen your appreciation of what a feminine future might mean for you and your organisation.

Australia is the future, from the 2032 Olympics Games in Brisbane It is significant that the 3rd largest landowner in the world behind the King of England and the Roman Catholic Church is Australian Woman, Gina Rhinehart. In the Ultimate Team Sport, Netball, Australia is consistently ranked world Number One (Australia also has the highest number of men playing Netball, in the world).

A network of skilled professionals, consultants and organisations are driving the developmental agenda.

The National Institute of Organisational Dynamics (NIODA) offers its biennial Group Relations Conference as THE development opportunity for leadership developers, consultants and coaches. Whether it is ACLD, AIM, ISLAU, etc NIODA is the place to deepen your understanding of the hidden and sometimes unconscious dynamics that impact organisational success.

The world of work, organisations and leadership have been mired in discourses of gender where we observe how authority and power are invested in certain bodies and denied to others. In regenerating and leading the Australian Way, we will create a container where the masculine and feminine can become uncoupled from the male and female, leaving us in a space where the possibility of masculine women and feminine men (and every permutation in between) can be explored as we discover what human flourishing can look like in organisational life. This exploration is not necessarily about sexuality or the binaries of pronouns, but an invitation to discover, a-new, what it means to be incarnated whilst working in a corporation, to be Embodied, vital, corpuscular and muscular whilst achieving the mission, vision and values of the organisation.

From Mother Earth, Mother Nature and all the crucibles of growth and development, a new metaphor is being birthed, of water and spirit, and we can all benefit, but first we must face our anxiety, trauma and fear of the unknown.

So this is the call, to all those curious, keen and committed to a new balanced future with systems of balance, reciprocity and harmony as guiding aspirations, this is your conference, and this is the time.

If this calls you, 27 – 31 October 2025, Melbourne, Australia, apply now!

To study, with a spirit of enquiry, the dynamics of leading and following in this temporary organisation, and to apply this learning-from-experience to our working lives.

The Primary Task of an organisation was originally described by the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations as the work the organisation must do if it is to survive. It defines its nature and reason for existing. This Group Relations Conference is created to enable learning from experience about conscious and unconscious dynamics that exist in the temporary organisation of the conference. The aim is to discover new insights and promote understanding of ‘back home’ work phenomena.

The conference is for leaders, managers and others who work in or with organisations. It is for those who wish to grow their understanding and practice of working with, leading and following others. You may be a leader, manager, consultant, educator, researcher, clinician administrator, student, service provider, professional or technical worker who seeks to promote organisational creativity, health and productivity through thoughtful action and reflective learning. It is for those who are questioning the role of gender and national (and other) identities in the contemporary workplace.

Previous experience of an experiential conference is not a requirement for attendance. The conference design caters for all levels of experience.

*This conference is a learning environment, this is not group therapy. Applicants who are undergoing significant personal stress are advised to postpone attendance, as Group Relations Conferences can, at times, be an intense emotional experience.

Group relations learning is like no other. We focus on time, task and territory. You will be engaged in various group with different tasks. The events are scheduled to begin and end on time. However, participants are free to study how they deal with those time boundaries and interactions with others.

There are no ‘conference presentations’. This is learning by doing, not just listening. The learning is participative, immediate and continues long after the conference is over.

You will experience and learn about:

• The roles you take up in various work groups and contexts.

• How you exercise and respond to leadership and authority.

• Explore the impact of change, disruption and creativity.

• Conscious and unconscious dynamics in groups.

• The systemic forces in play within an organisation.

• The complexity of culture and history in leadership and followership.

The Group Relations Conference where members are invited to work in a range of system structures to study group dynamic

Sub-Conferences
A sub-conference: for members for whom this is a first experience of a group relations conference.
B sub-conference: for members who have previously attended a residential group relations conference.

Conference Events
The conference is designed as an integrated whole. The staff role and member role are differentiated. Each event aims to build awareness of conscious and unconscious dynamics in role and authority relations through experiencing oneself as a member of groups of different sizes within the learning organisation as it is co-created.
The events include: plenaries, ‘here-and-now’ events for studying small, large, inter-group and whole-of-organisation dynamics, spaces to reflect and review one’s experiences and to application spaces to transform one’s learning to ‘back home’ work roles.

Hybrid: onsite in Woodend AND live interactive online via Zoom

Conference

Full fee AU$2,543

Member of AODA / Group Relations Australia / Organisation Development Australia AU$2,343

Two or more participants from the same organisation AU$2,343

NIODA student/ candidate / board / committee / professional subscription member AU$2,043

NIODA MLM8 student (already paid) AU$0

Accommodation

Four nights in a private room and bathroom, continental breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, and two evening meals AU$932

Four nights in a private room with shared bathroom, continental breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, and two dinners AU$502

No accomodation (online only) AU$0